Hedy Lamarr: Hollywood Actress And Inventor

By Chelsea Natale, 2027

Published 10/9/2025

Born Hedwig Eva Kiesler in 1914 Austria, movies and cinema had attracted Hedy Lamarr from a young age. Born to a banker and pianist, Lamarr was an only child to a well off family. Her father encouraged her to explore how the world worked and her mother introduced her to the arts through ballet and piano lessons. However, Hedy Lamarr’s mind was often overlooked.

At the age of 16, Hedy Lamarr was discovered by director Max Reinhardt. She would go on the study film with him in Berlin and made her small film debut in 1930. It would take two years for Lamarr to gain some traction in acting, but she eventually found it with the controversial film Ecstasy. The film was blocked from entering the U.S. for being too obscene.

In 1933, Lamarr would marry Fritz Mandl, but she was often unhappy during their marriage. Lamarr often described the marriage as one where “he was the absolute monarch in his marriage … I was like a doll. I was like a thing, some object of art which had to be guarded - and imprisoned - having no mind, no life of its own." In 1937, Lamarr would make an escape to London.

While in London, Lamarr gained access to Hollywood through MGM Studios Louis B. Mayer. American audiences would go on to love her for her accent and grace. Throughout this time, Hedy Lamarr never stopped being curious. By researching the fins of the fastest fish and the wings of the fastest birds, Lamarr was able to create better wings for the airplane of her friend Howard Hughes.

Hedy Lamarr’s most notable invention wouldn’t come until the early 1940s, right before America entered World War 2. Along with George Antheil, the pair created a new communication system to help guide torpedoes towards their intended target. To do so, they incorporated frequency hopping. A patent for the system was successfully filed but the military rejected using the system. Lamarr never earned anything from her invention and instead supported the war through advertising war bonds.

It wouldn't be until Hedy Lamarr was older that she finally started receiving recognition for the inventions she made. The Electronic Frontier awarded her with their Pioneer Award in 1997. Lamarr was also inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Hedy Lamarr would pass away in the year 2000, but her work during World War 2 laid the basis for WiFi and GPS, earning her the nickname of “the mother of WiFi”.